We must find good people who are willing to run for Congress, but having them go to Washington to be either corrupted or castrated by the present system won’t accomplish anything. They must run on a coherent plan to clean up the systemic problems that encourage corruption and attract those who are all too willing to be corrupted. Such a plan will attract the vast majority of voters who are disgusted by what the Congress has become.
What follows are the steps necessary to get Congress under the control of We The People by making it a place where decent people are once more willing to serve.
1. The Congressional Ethics Committee (Johnny Saks investigating Tony Soprano and vice versa) will be abolished and replaced with a Grand Jury Panel selected from the tax lists of the States by the random methods normally used by the States to chose grand jurors (perhaps 2 or 3 per state). From the resulting panel a grand jury will be chosen by lot for each case. While serving, jurors shall be paid reasonable expenses and one dollar per day more than Congresspersons.
2. Congressional pay will be frozen at its present level. All special allowances, such as those now given to committee chairmen and others in leadership positions shall be abolished. Congressional salaries or other benefits will only be raised if the reasons for such increase are explained and justified in writing and made public 90 days before a vote on the increase. A two thirds majority of the total membership, not just those attending the session, shall be required for passage. Any member not present and voting on an increase shall not receive it.
3. Congressional expense accounts will be subject to audits by an accounting firm selected by lot from a list of nationally accredited CPA firms. There shall be no flat and automatic expense allowances. All claims for reasonable expenses shall be backed by receipts. All travel shall be on commercial carriers in economy class. (This is the system most employees in the general economy live under.) There shall be no travel in government aircraft. Those aircraft now used exclusively to fly congresspersons shall be sold (probably on Ebay). All foreign or domestic travel, other than between Washington and the Congressperson’s or Senator’s home district shall require detailed written justification publicly posted on the internet one month before the date of such proposed travel. All travel and any other expenses paid by private persons, corporations, or labor unions shall be referred to a Congressional Grand Jury for investigation and possible action.
4. Congressional pensions shall be limited to $1000 per month served, for a maximum of 72 months. This shall be paid as a lump sum when a member leaves Congress honorably. Conviction of a felony will cause forfeiture of all pay, pensions and benefits.
5. The present obscene pensions will be paid to all present members who elect to leave at the end of their current term. (As huge as they are, it will be worth it to get rid of them.) If they stay they will get the maximum $72,000 when they leave.
6. While serving, Congresspersons and their families will get the same medical benefits provided to retired military. These will end when they leave Congress. However, upon leaving Congress, members shall be eligible to purchase interim health insurance through COBRA like anyone else who leaves an employer.
7. Congress shall pass no law applicable to the People at large from which they, themselves, are exempted.
8. No bill that has not been posted on the internet, in its entirety, seven days before being brought to the floor for a vote shall be voted upon.
There are other issues that will have to be addressed: for example those bloated, overpaid and under qualified staffs now used as a place to reward cronies, relatives and concubines, and the committee system that allows chairman far too much power to control the agenda and silence reasoned opposition to it. But these eight changes will go a long way toward giving us a Congress that will understand that they are the servants and not the masters of WE THE PEOPLE.
--Jule Miller 10/2/09
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5 comments:
This is a revision of a post on the same topic by Jule last week. In re posting the comments were lost.
To simplify and streamline the discussion I propose that we consider each of Jule's recommendations in turn. We should discuss, argue, change, and refine until we have consensus then proceed to the next one. That recommendation would then become part of THE PLATFORM. Once we have refined and revised them all we might proceed to the next step of presenting the entirety to select candidates. If nothing else it may generate some interesting comments from prospective candidates.
I thought the Congress of which the House is a part is a "national office". Anyway I was referring to the House and Senate when I mentioned national office. Sorry for the confusion.
Yes, people work for reward other than the monetary, but first they must have the wherewithal to live. A successful politician of whatever stripe must be intelligent, ambitious, charismatic, and willing to sacrifice much to attain his goal. These personal traits are highly valued in other industries and highly compensated. To expect him to work for less because he is working for you is unreasonable.
The politician's (any politician's) first priority is to get elected. His second priority is to get reelected, and his third priority is to get reelected. As I have said, this election stuff costs BIG bucks. I'm not sure, but I think a campaign for a House seat in a populous district costs about two million, broken down as follows: one million for radio/TV, $250,000 for print, $750,000 for travel, entertainment and staff salaries. Oh, and throw in a few hundred thou for polling. I believe a campaign for Senate costs about twice as much. If you are an incumbent who has been in office since before dirt was invented and want to remain there, you will. What serious person is going to risk millions to unseat you?
A good example of this is the upcoming reelection of Barbara Boxer, one of the most liberal senators. The Republicans know there is no way in hell she will lose so they will put up some relative unknown supported by little money. I suppose one could throw ten to twenty million at Boxer and maybe win. I doubt it, and the GOP sure ain't going to do it.
I fully agree that we need to clean out the present snakepit into which our Congress has decended. To do this requires more than warm fuzzy thoughts about pride, honor and a sense of duty. All that is great as as long as it is fueled by BIG BUCKS to pay the big bills to get your candidate elected.
What do all successful politicians from Conservatives to Socialists have in abundance and in common? MONEY and lot's of it.
Don’t denigrate duty and honor. If we don’t run candidates who are running because of those things, we are just going to replace one set of crooks with a new, and probably hungrier, set. Congresspersons are now paid over three times what the average family income is in the USA and get pensions and other benefits that practically no one in the private sector gets. That is a very sore point with the electorate that can be capitalized on. Besides, if it costs so much to live in Washington , why do they all arrive broke from the expenses of getting elected and then leave millionaires. But lets argue about that next.
Yes, no less a crook than Tip O’Neil said that money is the mothers milk of politics. But before money (you seem to be fixated on money) we need candidates, and before candidates there must be IDEAS. If you have candidates and money but no ideas, you have the recent Republican campaigns.
According to a poll released today, the American people are more concerned about corruption in Washington than they are the economy. This in the middle of a recession with unemployment almost 10% and under employment over 16%. If there was ever a time when We The People have a chance to clean out the snake pit it is next year's election.
If we present a concise plan to attack the corruption in Washington , and find a way to get it publicized, money and volunteers will flow in. The more volunteers the less money will be needed.
First, does anyone have a better idea than the Grand Jury I have suggested to see that people like Rangel are investigated, indicted and tried. The good news is we have nowhere to go but up. Nothing could be worse than the present "Ethics Committee" joke.
Jule
I do not and have not denigrated duty and honor. I said, "hire good people and pay them well, very well". "Good people" certainly in includes people of honor and duty. I stand by my statement that they must be paid and perqed well. The cost of running Congress is at most a billion or two a year, chump change in relation to a deficit of almost 12 TRILLION.
I will grant you that the present crowd is not worth minimum wage, however most are not "good people". Now, to expect their "honorable and dutiful" replacements to work for less is an insult. If they should be truly the people we need they would be worth many times the present compensation schedule.
Money is truly the "Mother's milk of politics" (and much else). Just because it was said by someone you denigrate does not make it any less true.
The American people are and have been for many years concerned about corruption in government. Why? Simple, because we have a corrupt government. Who is to blame? The American voter of course who keeps 92% of the incumbents at the trough term after term. Don't blame the pols when their handlers give them the keys to the treasury and then demand that they distribute that largesse to the proletariat.
The Grand Jury concept may have merit but it needs refinement. The biggest problem I see is that although the Congress could institute it, what possible reason would it have for buying the rope to hang itself? The only other way is by Constitutional amendment and That has no better chance of passing. Because of the very limited possibility of passage I suggest we put it on the back burner.
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